Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for data erasure of recording media inserted into and removed from information processing apparatuses.
Description of the Related Art
Information processing apparatuses such as a PC, a digital camera, and a printer are often configured such that recording media for storing various kinds of data are removably inserted into an information processing apparatus body. Examples of the recording media removably inserted into the information processing apparatus body include an SD card, a USB memory, and the like (hereinafter collectively referred to as a medium/media).
For example, in printers, an SD card is often used as a medium removably inserted into a printer body. The SD card is used for storing documents that require user authentication in printing (hereinafter referred to as secure print documents) and for storing repetitive documents including various forms. Accordingly, the SD card stores data including confidential information and user's private information.
The data stored in a medium is generally erased from a file system once a user performs data deletion or a formatting operation of the medium. However, even if the data is erased from the file system, an entity of the stored data often remains on the medium. In a case where the medium is disposed of while the entity of the above-mentioned data including confidential information and private information remains on the medium, the confidential information and private information may be at risk of leaking out to an external third party.
To avoid information leaks from the disposed medium, it is needed to “completely erase” the data on the medium before disposing of the medium. As used herein, the term “completely erase” means to erase an entity of the data remaining on the medium by the processing such as overwriting of the data. In general, the complete erasure is performed on the medium by a user operation. In a case where the user disposes of the medium after consciously performing a complete erasure operation on the medium, there is no problem. Meanwhile, there may be a case where the user inadvertently forgets to perform the complete erasure operation in disposing of the medium and removes, from the information processing apparatus body, the medium on which complete erasure has not been performed. As a result, the medium is disposed of before the entity of the data on the medium is erased, incurring the risk of leaking out of the above-mentioned confidential information and private information to the external third party.
As a technique of preventing such information leaks, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-079525 discloses a technique in which, once a media removal operation by a user is detected, complete erasure is performed on a medium by overwriting data. In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-079525, once the user trying to remove a medium presses a media insertion/removal switch, complete erasure of the data on the medium is performed and an SD card is kept in a card slot until the complete erasure processing is finished. Then, the SD card is removed from the card slot after the complete erasure processing is finished. Accordingly, even if the user inadvertently forgets to perform the complete erasure operation, the user can completely erase the data on the medium in removal of the medium from the information processing apparatus.